Just lost my P4 this evening.

[Mike_Flys]

I agree, with Litchi you don't have to worry about signal loss.

Except GPS signal loss which can also happen between buildings.

 

[johnny21]

Except GPS signal loss which can also happen between buildings.

I never fly between or above buildings,roads,people,etc...Too dangerous if something goes wrong...

 

[joet]

Definitely Chinese. All my other previous flight's are normal coded. Will show you example. The file dated 8/17/2016 was my last flight when drone went nuts. The other one attached is like all my other 74 flight's. Normal.

I'd go with "corrupted", personally. It's not actual Chinese.

 

[Mike_Flys]

I never fly between or above buildings,roads,people,etc...Too dangerous if something goes wrong...

I was just reading a part 107 sUAS post and thinking that it will be good for commercial drone pilots to learn the airspace info. Then I came back to this post and remembered that near where I learned to fly KVGT (North Las Vegas Airport) it is fairly common that a couple times a year they (Military/Government...) intentionally interfere with the GPS signal out in the desert. I know this because as a pilot I have the FAA send me NOTAMS (Notice to Airmen) and they post when and where they do this ahead of time. If you didn't read the NOTAM you wouldn't now. Flying into one of these spots my GPS location jumped over a mile away. I could see by the highway I was over that I was not where my GPS said I was.
This seems to be done away from citys (tall buildings) so I could see if you were just out in the desert miles from anything flying with GPS lock when they turned this on or if you flew into the area your GPS could get confused.... fly away? definitely possible.

So even if you are not getting a Remote Pilot in Command Certificate it is a good idea to learn about the airspace, maybe go online and read the NOTAMs for where you intend to fly, sign up to have them emailed, or even find one of the phone apps that get the NOTAM info.

Sorry for the rant, just thought it was important.

 

[KevMo Photog]

I was just reading a part 107 sUAS post and thinking that it will be good for commercial drone pilots to learn the airspace info. Then I came back to this post and remembered that near where I learned to fly KVGT (North Las Vegas Airport) it is fairly common that a couple times a year they (Military/Government...) intentionally interfere with the GPS signal out in the desert. I know this because as a pilot I have the FAA send me NOTAMS (Notice to Airmen) and they post when and where they do this ahead of time. If you didn't read the NOTAM you wouldn't now. Flying into one of these spots my GPS location jumped over a mile away. I could see by the highway I was over that I was not where my GPS said I was.
This seems to be done away from citys (tall buildings) so I could see if you were just out in the desert miles from anything flying with GPS lock when they turned this on or if you flew into the area your GPS could get confused.... fly away? definitely possible.

So even if you are not getting a Remote Pilot in Command Certificate it is a good idea to learn about the airspace, maybe go online and read the NOTAMs for where you intend to fly, sign up to have them emailed, or even find one of the phone apps that get the NOTAM info.

Sorry for the rant, just thought it was important.

Appreciate the info Mike! Not a rant at all!

 

[r62ewa]

Also, if you are a commercial pilot, don't just read the NOTAMs, issue them yourself for your projects.

 

[ElGuapo]

I'm not sure how OA works on RTH but my guess is altitude gain until obstacle is cleared. I also have no clue what happens if altitude ceiling is reached during that process but stop and hoover is most logical assumption. If all of this is really how things work on P4 then move last know position 50-100ft further in direction you were flying and then draw a straight line on the map from that position to your home point. It should be under that line where it meets the skyscraper on a way home (roof of the red building under first skyscraper on the left).


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

OA only works on the front side of the bird, if the bird is moving sideways most likely is going to crash. P4 has sensors in the front for object avoidance.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[neven]

OA only works on the front side of the bird, if the bird is moving sideways most likely is going to crash. P4 has sensors in the front for object avoidance.

I think P4 will not RTH sideways and it is fair to assume that it is going to fly straight home making use of those OA sensors. What I don't know is how does phantom avoid object on its path while returning home. Probably by gaining altitude. What happens if it hits maximum altitude while doing that I also don't know. Probably stop and hoover.

 

[Bull94]

DJI will be announcing the new Inspire2 next week. I'm looking forward to that.

Some friendly advice:
1. Try to avoid flying over populated areas like downtown, traffic or homes, it's high risk if something goes wrong. Do you have liability insurance if it hurts someone?
2. Don't fly between objects (such as buildings) when you are not within VLOS, never (unless flying a Litchi mission autonomously). Since you can't see behind you while flying, it's easy to make the mistake of flying behind an object when you don't have VLOS. This can lead to radio connection trouble by accidentally flying behind any object (mountain, building, etc).
3. Don't buy the Inspire until you have better flying record, unless money is no object. With all due respect sir, you would be classified a novice by most pilots, doing what you did, being distracted from rational flight by the emotion of the moment. These things happen, no disrespect intended. There's a learning curve that costs money sometimes.

Is this accurate? I can't wait to see what the Inspire 2 brings to the table.


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[wsalopek]

Im thinking it would have came down to my set RTH altitude and then head right for me.

It will never descend to RTH. If it's below, it will climb to the RTH altitude. If it's above, it will stay at that altitude.

Another way to avoid this situation would be to always set the RTH altitude to higher than the tallest obstacle in the area of the flight.

I don't know what happens if max alt, in your case like you said 400 feet, is lower than the RTH alt.

Bill

 

[KevMo Photog]

It will never descend to RTH. If it's below, it will climb to the RTH altitude. If it's above, it will stay at that altitude.

Another way to avoid this situation would be to always set the RTH altitude to higher than the tallest obstacle in the area of the flight.

I don't know what happens if max alt, in your case like you said 400 feet, is lower than the RTH alt.

Bill

Did not realize that it would not descend to RTH wsalopek. Sure appreciate that info!

 

[skiptv]

Live and learn, You just broke about a half dozen FAA laws, Wonder what the news reports would have looked liked if your drone would have hit a building and landed on a persons head. "line of site" means that you can actually see your drone flying, I doubt unless you are superman you can see your drone from a mile away.

 

[KevMo Photog]

Live and learn, You just broke about a half dozen FAA laws, Wonder what the news reports would have looked liked if your drone would have hit a building and landed on a persons head. "line of site" means that you can actually see your drone flying, I doubt unless you are superman you can see your drone from a mile away.

Yes! It definitely was a lesson learned skiptv! I am a pro photog of over 30 years and my getting the shot took over on this flight! It was golden sunset on the city and my first time ever over any city. I had no radio issues at all so I assumed I would be good. Never assume right! Truly believe this machine is on one of 4 rooftops. Still may recover it yet btw. But def learned a good lesson learned about radio signals and wont be over any tall cities anymore. Thanks for pointing out my bad decisions on this flight. I get it!

 

[Dirty Bird]

Yawn...

Live and learn, You just broke about a half dozen FAA laws, Wonder what the news reports would have looked liked if your drone would have hit a building and landed on a persons head. "line of site" means that you can actually see your drone flying, I doubt unless you are superman you can see your drone from a mile away.

 

[KevMo Photog]

Yawn...

Dirty Bird! Would love to message you and talk some shop on this stuff man! You seem cool as heck! How do I get a hold of you?

 

[Dirty Bird]

[email protected]

Dirty Bird! Would love to message you and talk some shop on this stuff man! You seem cool as hell! How do I get a hold of you?

 

[Flintstone]

I guess I pushed it too far this evening with my P4. So I'm flying across the Ohio River directly across from Louisville Kentucky. I'm on Indiana side of river and it's about a mile across the river to get to the buildings. Dumb me got lined up to go between two 500ft tall buildings in town. Started driving right between them and totally lost connection almost instantly. Had 70% battery left so I thought no problem should be coming home. But return altitude was set at 120 meters. Not tall enough if it has to go over the tallest building. But it should not have hit it because of Object avoidance right? It should have just stopped and tried to go around or just hover there until battery ran out right? I was using Windsurfer's too btw. Which I don't think I would have got as far over the city as I did without them. But they did not help when it ducked behind 500ft tall building at over a mile out. My stupidity for sure
But anyway, it never came back at all. So I drove over to downtown Louisville and walked the streets and even talked to two security guards and gave them all my info. All of my info was on the bird too. So hoping I get lucky and get a call on it. I'm almost more pissed because of the nice footage I had of barges going up and down river and the awesome sunset on the skyline was cool too. I will also never set my maximum altitude to 400ft ever again either. I was trying to climb to get just above those bulidings which may have kept my RC control. But with max altitude set at 400 it would not let me climb as I was driving it forward. This def my fault and I should have known better than to try flying these buildings and being so far away from me. Lesson learned I guess. Be glad to upload the files from my Ipad if I knew how. Help on that if possible? Now what to do next? I was ready for an Inspire anyway. As much as I freaking love the P4, I'm ready for a little better sensor with better stills too!

I like your choice of words "Dumb" and "Stupidity" I couldn't have described it better.

 

[neven]

Live and learn, You just broke about a half dozen FAA laws, Wonder what the news reports would have looked liked if your drone would have hit a building and landed on a persons head. "line of site" means that you can actually see your drone flying, I doubt unless you are superman you can see your drone from a mile away.

English is not my first language but I'm quite sure that "line of site" doesn't mean anything. Line of sight on the other hand means that there is an unobstructed path from point A to point B not necessarily visible by naked eye while VLoS (Visual Line of Sight) implies that you can actually see point B.


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[erkme73]

So the OP's original video "has been removed". Does this mean the bird has been found, or is KevMo having second thoughts about leaving it out there for government apologists to discover?

 

[Kirby Johnson]

pretty sure its illegal to block radio frequencies

...pretty sure it is illegal to block... I don't think so. Many businesses put out some kind of jamming signal if they want to prevent cellular use. I have seen it many times, and not because it is a metal building, but because they have specifically taken measures to disable cell calls.